Youth with same-sex desire undergo a process of narrative engagement as they construct configurations of identity that provide meaning and coherence with available sexual taxonomies. This article ...presents a theoretical analysis and four case studies centering on the relationship among context, desire, and identity for youth with same-sex desire. Through an interpretive, holistic analysis of the personal narratives of youth, we examine the integration of same-sex desire, behavior, and identity in the general life story and the selective appropriation of elements of “master narratives” of sexual identity development. Narratives were characterized by challenges to integrate desire, behavior, and identity into a configuration that conformed to the received sexual taxonomy. Implications for theory and further research on sexual identity development are discussed.
Reviews the book, Jews and Arabs in Israel Encountering Their Identities: Transformations in Dialogue by Maya Kahanoff (2016). The contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954) is one of the greatest ...contributions that social psychology has ever made to society. Its premise is simple: bringing people together under favorable conditions will challenge their stereotypes and reduce the prejudice they feel toward each other (see also Pettigrew, 1998). This book provides a welcome addition to this literature. It is elegantly grounded in the goal of understanding the “profound and fragile process of identity transformation” (p. 21) that people undergo when confronting their “enemy.” To accomplish this aim, Kahanoff analyzes three levels of dialogue: intergroup, intragroup, and intra-individual. The book, in other words, not only provides an account of what the Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli participants said to each other during the intergroup portion of the interventions the author observed but also during the uninational meetings that took place afterward. Kahanoff also conducted one-on-one interviews with the participants during and after the contact intervention. The scope of this analysis ultimately provides the reader with a comprehensive account of intergroup contact. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
Women and sexual minorities in the United States continue to experience subordinate status, and the policy gains they have made in areas such as reproductive rights and marriage equality continue to ...be challenged in political discourse. We conducted a critical discourse analysis of texts from the 2012 Democratic and Republican national conventions in order to examine the extent to which ideological representations of the family were employed to legitimize public policy positions related to gender (e.g., abortion) and sexuality (e.g., same-sex marriage). We analyzed two forms of text (official party platform document, transcripts of speeches) with distinct intended audiences (i.e., party members, general audience). Findings revealed that an ideological representation of the traditional family ideal—featuring a heterosexual couple, their children, and asymmetric gender relations—was present within speeches given by both parties, particularly by the spouses of the presidential candidates (Michelle Obama and Ann Romney). Although this ideological representation was subsequently used within the Republican Party platform to legitimize positions against same-sex marriage and abortion, the Democratic Party platform challenged this representation of the family to instead advocate for policy positions in favor of same-sex marriage and women’s reproductive rights. We discuss this ambivalence within Democratic texts in light of the different audiences that party convention texts seek. Implications for gender- and sexuality-based policies are discussed, as well as the importance of examining political discourse across diverse forms and settings.
Political leaders often construct social categories via talk and text (Billig, 1996) to legitimize particular political projects (Reicher & Hopkins, 2001a). This study sought to identify the moral ...dimensions invoked by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to construct the political category of "terrorist." This study consisted of a thematic content analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) of 20 speeches, 11 by Bush and 9 by Obama, using a deductive approach informed by Moral Foundations Theory (Haidt, 2012). The analysis revealed that the speeches featured thematic content reflecting each of the 6 moral dimensions specified in Moral Foundations Theory. That is, Presidents Bush and Obama constructed the terrorist as a multifaceted, morally abject category distinguished not only by the unjust nature of the violence inflicted by its members, but also because of their oppressive political objectives and desire to undermine and "infect" the societies they target. Noteworthy, also, was the fact that these themes emerged in the speeches of both presidents, albeit in varying degrees. This finding not only illustrates the moral dimensions upon which members of certain categories are distinguished from others but also how moral content is utilized to problematize categories such that particular responses (e.g., regime change, drone strikes) are framed as both necessary and legitimate. The value of qualitative approaches in future research on Moral Foundations Theory is also discussed.
The idea of narrative has become increasingly appropriated in empirical research in both psychology and politics, yet there is a notable absence of integrative frameworks that specify a conceptual ...and methodological approach to narrative research in political psychology. An integrative conceptual framework is proposed and anchored in four principles of a narrative approach: (1) the mutual constitution of language and thought, (2) the need for personal coherence through narrative identity development, (3) the need for collective solidarity through shared meaning, and (4) the mediational property of narrative in social activity and practice. Theory and empirical research related to these principles are reviewed. We argue that a narrative framework has the potential to enhance the relevance and amplify the voice of political psychology within and beyond the academy and to offer new knowledge on the complex and dynamic relationship between context and mind.
Groups in conflict routinely use historical narrative to compete for status in intergroup encounters. This study examines power dynamics in conversations about history facilitated according to ...distinct social psychological theories. Israeli and Palestinian youth participating in an existing intergroup contact program were randomly assigned to either a (1) coexistence condition consistent with a prejudice reduction model in which the goal was to foster the construction of a common in‐group identity, or (2) a confrontational condition consistent with a collective action model in which the goal was to raise awareness about identities and empower the low‐status group. Dialogue facilitated in the coexistence condition reproduced power asymmetries, with a pattern of Jewish Israeli dominance. Dialogue facilitated in the confrontational condition suggested a pattern of Palestinian dominance, consistent with a collective action model. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical approaches to intergroup contact and dialogue about history among groups in intractable conflict.
Informed by social identity theory and a rhetorical approach to the study of social category construction in social interaction, this study analyzed the nature and function of participant utterances ...in two conditions of intergroup dialogue about history between
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sraelis and
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alestinians. Across conditions that sought to either emphasize recategorization into a common in‐group identity or subcategorization into mutually differentiated identities,
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alestinian and
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rab
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sraeli utterances primarily reflected the theme of victimization, while
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ewish
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sraeli utterances primarily reflected themes of justification and victimization. The way in which these utterances produced social competition for victim and perpetrator roles and reproduced master historical narratives of
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alestinian victimization versus
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ewish
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sraeli “righteous” victimization is illustrated. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of narrative and rhetoric about social categories in settings of intractable political conflict, and implications for dialogue‐based intervention about history are addressed.
Informed by social identity theory and a rhetorical approach to the study of social category construction in social interaction, this study analyzed the nature and function of participant utterances ...in two conditions of intergroup dialogue about history between Israelis and Palestinians. Across conditions that sought to either emphasize recategorization into a common in-group identity or subcategorization into mutually differentiated identities, Palestinian and Arab Israeli utterances primarily reflected the theme of victimization, while Jewish Israeli utterances primarily reflected themes of justification and victimization. The way in which these utterances produced social competition for victim and perpetrator roles and reproduced master historical narratives of Palestinian victimization versus Jewish Israeli u righteous "victimization is illustrated. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of narrative and rhetoric about social categories in settings of intractable political conflict, and implications for dialogue-based intervention about history are addressed.
Intergroup dialog affords an opportunity to study the deployment of historical narratives in conversation. In this field study, Israeli and Palestinian adolescents were randomly assigned to one of ...two conditions of intergroup dialog commonly in practice in intergroup encounter programs. In the coexistence condition, facilitators encouraged participants to focus on similarities and to construct a common ingroup identity. In the confrontational condition, facilitators encouraged participants to see themselves as group representatives and to become aware of power differences among groups. Our analysis examined variability in narrative content based on dialog condition and topical focus on either history or the imagined future. Using an interpretive analytical framework, we found that recognition of the outgroup narrative emerged among Jewish Israeli participants within the coexistence condition when the topic of an imagined future was discussed. Participants nevertheless struggled to reconcile divergent collective narratives in conversations about the past and a concrete future—namely, the conditions of a future peace agreement—regardless of the facilitation model employed. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of historical narrative in intergroup conflict and reconciliation, as well as distinct approaches to intergroup dialog.
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